"Let the beauty we love be what we do." – Rumi

Monthly Archives: February 2011

The driver rang my doorbell. Surprise! He was fifteen minutes early which I appreciated, but was not expecting. He was also well dressed, professional, polite and attractive. Just the kind of guy that you want driving you to the airport. 🙂 Limolink drivers also are not allowed to collect tips which was interesting to note. There were some magazines, a daily newspaper and waters for the both of us in the car. Apparently if you call ahead you can request any publication that you want to be waiting for you in the car. I didn’t know this ahead of time, so if you use Limolink request a magazine! I definitely appreciated the water, with all the coffee I had drank earlier in the morning I needed some hydration.

8:00 a.m.

Check in at Delta and pay fifty bucks to check my suitcase. I’m annoyed that people who weigh way more then I do aren’t charged extra for their weight. My bag and I together weigh 160 lbs. The National Center of Health Statistics says that the average weight of an American woman is 163 pounds and for a man its 190 pounds. They get to carry around that extra weight on their bodies, I shouldn’t have to pay to carry my extra weight around in a suitcase. Annoyed.

9:30 a.m.

At this point I was starving and we had time to kill so we stopped in at Cafe Patachou for some breakfast. I’m thrilled that we have nice restaurants in the new airport and we don’t have to resort to fast food out of desperation like in the old airport. I was very hungry and thirsty at this point having skipped dinner the night before and having downed three plus cups of coffee to try and overcome my two weeks of insomnia. Hydration is very important for the body and caffeine and flying are dehydrating so I drank a few glasses of water with breakfast.

I ate the Broken Yolk Sandwich with Bacon which is my favorite at Patachou and I needed something substantial and filling. The airport location doesn’t put avocado on the sandwich like they do downtown and it costs an extra 1.60 to have it added on. I’m wondering why this is different at the airport versus the downtown restaurant. Anyway, I paid the money because I love avocado and my sandwich just wouldn’t have been the same without it. I’m very picky about some things. I’ll be honest, I’m picky about almost everything.

After breakfast we sailed through security and waited in the terminal. We browsed the magazines and then sat and waited some more. I decided to try and accomplish a few more items on my to do list and charge my phone while there was a free outlet available.

I overheard a man talking on the phone in Dutch and my ears immediately perked up. I rarely hear people speak Dutch anymore so I struck up a conversation with the man. He turned out to be very interesting indeed! Mr. Johan Bollen is an Informatics professor at Indiana University and he was on his way to NYC to discuss his most recent research which is using Twitter as a significant method in tracking the stock market ups and downs. He’s been dubbed the “Twitter Predictor” and you can Google him or read more in an article by the Dutch Daily News. We had a lovely conversation about the fashion industry, his informatics research, and Holland of course. It was so much fun to speak Dutch again! Oh how I miss that country and its people. We talked about Amsterdam, how tall the Dutch are, and I cleared up some questions he had about the business of fashion. I’m not going to go into the fashion details here. You’ll just have to check back later this week when I write my guest blog for Indy Fash Bash about the experience of being at NY Fashion Week.

Our plane was delayed by about 40 minutes because of air traffic at La Guardia. That gave me plenty of time to chat with Mr. Bollen, and of course to use the restroom one last time before boarding. Okay, second rant of this blog, you’ve been warned. People! Please check to make sure that you flush the toilets! The ladies restroom in my terminal had six, let me repeat that SIX toilets that had not been flushed and had disgusting bodily matters in them. I know that we are all used to automatic toilets, but occasionally they malfunction. Please, please, please check to make sure that your toilet flushes behind you when you’re done. It’s not that hard and it only takes a second. If the toilet does not flush push the little black button to flush it. I already have enough public bathroom issues without adding that to the list. Not flushing is just plain gross, rant over.

Sometime after 11:50 when we were supposed to leave we boarded.

I absolutely love flying. I find the landscape below incredibly inspiring, sometimes it also makes me incredibly depressed but depression can be inspiring too. We had coach tickets so my knees were all scrunched up against the seat in front of me. It’s a good thing no one was sitting in it because I accidentally gave it a whack with my knees a time or two. We chit chatted with a few obnoxious guys across the aisle, observed the scenery, read the in flight mag, and waited.

I fell in love with the landscapes that I saw below and found the patterns that the water created in the ground incredibly beautiful. I’ve always believed that the sea and ocean with its waves is the heartbeat of the Earth and its rivers, creeks, and streams are its veins and arteries. Basically I believe that the water is to the Earth what our cardiovascular system is to us.

2:19 p.m.

Finally, we arrived. Yay!

You’ll have to check back to see what happens after we reach Manhattan. 🙂

I’ve asked myself this question many times over the years. I haven’t always loved fashion, but I have always loved clothes. Honestly, I didn’t even know what the fashion industry was all about until I got to college. Up until then I had never subscribed to or read fashion magazines and my style choices were solely prompted by the whims of my personality, my environment, and my life circumstances. Up until college clothes were something I wore to make me happy, express a mood, or to perform a specific function. I simply dressed to have fun. Not much has changed since that time except for the fact that I have grown to love and appreciate what goes on behind the scenes in the fashion industry and now I subscribe and read all the fashion magazines to see the latest creations.

So, what is it that I love so much about fashion? I love its utility and ability to transform. Fashion is art that we wear every day and live our lives in. Unless you live in a nudist colony, clothes are something that we must wear every day. The beauty of that is that through clothing we have the opportunity to express a part of ourselves and our personalities. I love beautiful and functional design of all types whether it be fashion, architecture, household appliances, or furniture. Everything that we wear or use generally has a function and I love beautiful things that are useful. I’m inspired by beauty. I see it everywhere around me. Raised by an interior designer mother I was taught from an early age about good design and living in every day beauty by creating a beautiful environment. I’m not trendy and don’t feel the need to have the hottest item every season. I buy only what I fall in love with and try to keep my wardrobe simple and pared down to only the garments that I absolutely couldn’t live without. I believe in simple, clean, classic, elegant and timeless fashion. I like to have fun with how I dress but keep it classy. Clothing should be comfortable, wash and wear well, and be made of quality fabrics that last. Personally, I prefer to wear clothing that is made of mostly natural fabrics. I love wool, cotton, linen, and silk. Being stylish and looking good does not mean that you have to spend a lot of money on clothing. While I do occasionally splurge and buy a designer item for the most part I have to be more thrifty in dressing myself. My budget doesn’t allow much room for expensive purchases. Instead I love to shop at thrift stores and find nice second hand designer or vintage garments. A large portion of my wardrobe has been purchased at Goodwill. The style and grace of Audrey Hepburn has been one of my major influences in how I dress. Her simple and elegant style have always made a lasting impression with me.

Wear what you love and dress to suit who you are. Fashion is a chance to share the beauty you love with the world just by wearing it in your every day life.

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” – Rumi

Today has turned out to be one of the best days of my life. I entered Michael Kors Fashion Week Sweepstakes on Facebook awhile ago and I won!
This is an absolute dream come true for me and I can’t wait to fly to New York next week to meet him and see the show at NYFW.

My agency, The Helen Wells Agency, is going to let me take a flip cam to record this special time and all the moments.
Stay tuned! I am going to create a travel diary to share this experience with everyone.